Check out the new Visitor Info Center and food vendor coming to uptown Charlotte

The Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority said Wednesday that it’s starting construction on a new Visitor Info Center at Tryon and Martin Luther King streets – along with a new food vendor.

The tourism promotion group is spending $480,000 to retrofit the existing two-story metal structure on Wells Fargo Plaza. The base of the structure – formerly a Chick-fil-A and currently an empty area below an elevated seating area – will be enclosed, and the center will include free Wi-Fi. The upper level seating area will remain open to the public, but only from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays.

Construction is planned to be complete in the fall. Services will include maps, visitor guides, and Charlotte-themed souvenirs.

“Local experts will be stationed at the new location to offer dynamic and inspiring visitor information about what to see, do, eat, explore and experience in Charlotte,” said CRVA chief executive Tom Murray. “These local experts are often the first touch point for visitors, and this new location will help us meet visitors where they are.”

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The new info center will also include a “food option,” the CRVA said, which will likely serve “quick bites or coffee.” Another small vendor, possibly similar to the flower sellers on Tryon Street, will be included in the side of the structure facing Tryon.

Uptown’s visitor center had been located across the street from the new location, in the Charlotte Chamber building at 330 South Tryon. The Chamber’s 2014 renovation and expansion caused the CRVA to relocate the visitor center to the Charlotte Convention Center, which sees less pedestrian traffic than the main artery of Tryon Street.